Payback
by Sogetsu Kazama
Summary: After being betrayed and left for dead by his partner and wife. Heero resurfaces, and is hellbent on revenge and getting his money back...even if it means returning to the one woman he thought he would never see again.
1. Returning to Forum

Hey there sports fans! Im back! It was nice to see all the feedback I got from TRA, so I decided to write out another Heero fic. This one is one I wrote based on a novel I read a few years back, and was captivated by it. As always, this is an AU fic so expect some characters to be outta character, as well as some elements missing (i.e. Gundams, Sailor Soldiers, etc…). Now keep in mind that this one is a tad bit darker than TRA and deals with more adult themes (hence the "PG-13" rating) so be forewarned, Im not here to corrupt any 12-year-olds. :P, Anyways, here goes nothing…

Payback

Prologue: Returning to Forum

It was just a few minutes past dawn in the big city of New York. People were just waking up from there 8 hour beauty rest, or lack thereof, and preparing for the day. In the streets below New York, a subway was speeding underneath the darkened tunnels. Because it was so early in the day, the subway was almost empty…almost. In the very last car of the train stood one man, tall and slim in stature, and moderately muscle toned in body, dressed in a pair of khaki colored pants, a sports coat of the same color, and a buttoned up white shirt with no tie. His chocolate colored hair was messy and unruly, yet it still had a "neat" appearance to it. His eyes were an eerie, unnerving dark blue and had a cold, empty look to them as the bangs from his hair partially covered them. He stood there, calmly looking ahead not even focused on the subway ride, but more on his inner thoughts, and the events that happened 5 months ago…

_'G.S.W.__ That's what the hospitals call it. Gunshot Wound. The Doctor has to report it to the police. That makes it hard for guys in my line to get what I'd call "Quality Health Care." Not many men know what their life's worth, I do…70 grand. That's what they took from me, and that's what I was going to bet back…'_

(Flashback)

An old, overweight, balding man, stood in front of a messy counter. He took one last drag on his unfiltered cigarette before putting it out and opening up a cabinet and, pulling out a half-full bottle of Jack Daniels. He opened the top to the bottle and filled a juice glass up to the top with the amber liquid. And in one fell swoop, proceeded to down the entire contents with out a flinch or a grimace of pain. The old man, set the glass down on the counter top again and this time only filled it half way with whiskey and set what appeared to be a scalpel, surgical forceps, and a needle into the alcoholic beverage. The man then turned around to his bleeding, half-conscious "patient" lying face down on a cold metal table. His chocolate brown hair was matted down over his sweat covered face as gritted his teeth in pain. The old man, set his glass with his tools in it to a nearby table and surveyed man laying face down in front of him: 2 bullet wounds on his back, close to his shoulder blade, it appeared the bullets just narrowly missed his lungs, which means there's a good chance he'll survive.

The old man, grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured some of its contents over the 2 bullet wounds as a makeshift antiseptic. The brown-haired man, hissed at the burning sensation he felt, but made no movement to stop it. After the burning sensation subsided, the old man pulled out the pair of forceps from the whiskey filled glass and proceeded to dig them into the mans flesh searching for bullets embedded in his body. After 5 minutes of searching and mind-numbing pain, both bullets were extracted from his body and he was stitched up with a sewing needle and thread.

(End flashback)

The man's inner thoughts were cut short, as the subway came to a sudden and abrupt halt telling him he had arrived at his destination: Manhattan, Downtown New York. An area he thought he would never have comeback to. As he left the subway and climbed the stairs up the street, a realization hit him: he was absolutely flat broke, unarmed and out of cigarettes. A smirk played on his thin lips, he was going to have to make some money.

_'They say "Time heals all wounds." And you think after 5 months of lying on my back, I would have given up any idea of getting even…just be a nice guy, call it a day. Nice guys are fine, you gotta have someone to take advantage of. But they always finish last.' _

As the man, stood there for a moment thinking of how he was going to come across some money. He heard some one yelling off in the distance.

"Help a cripple. Help a homeless. Help a Vietnam vet walk again." Yelled a poorly dressed, barefoot man sitting against a building with a hat in front of him. Random people were passing buy dropping change and dollar bills into the hat.

"There we go, something to get me started." The man said aloud, as we walked over to where the homeless man was sitting begging for money. Once he approached him he bent down as pulled all the dollar bills which sat in the hat. The homeless man quickly rose up from his seat, apparently cured, in anger.

"Hey what the fuck are you—ack!" His reprimand was cut short, as the brown-haired man quickly grabbed the bum by the throat and held him up against the wall of the building, glaring at him with his navy blue eyes.

"Shut up! I cured you." He spat at him with his low, cold monotone voice. He released the bum from his grasp and walked off before he created scene, leaving a shocked and scared bum 4 dollars poorer.

*******************************************************************

After making a quick 4 bucks, the man decided to get something to eat in a diner. But seeing as he only had 4 dollars to his name all he could afford was a slice of pecan pie and a cup of coffee. After finishing his meal, the waitress stood there and looked at him, wondering if he wanted anything else. He shook his head no and asked what he owed her.

"Uh, $2.98" Was her reply. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the 4 dollars, laying 3 out for the meal, and one for a tip and walking out the door. The woman collects the money, put it in the register, and reached into her pocket for a smoke, but didn't feel her pack there. As she looked out the window he saw the person who just ordered the coffee and pie pocket her pack of cigarettes. He stole her cigarettes, and he would be long gone before she would catch him.

******************************************************************

It was now noon as he was fed, and he got his smokes, now he needed a small amount of money to operate, and to do that he need to find someone that looked very close to his facial features. And so he stood there, leaning against a lamp post watching crowds and crowds of people walk by him. He had to have been standing here for at least a half hour looking for the perfect man. Finally his patience was rewarded as he saw a winner. He was at about the same height and build dressed in an expensive looking, Italian business suit. His hair looked a great deal nicer and cleaner compared to his unruly mop: he was the one.

The man quickly stood up from leaning on the pole and walked towards him, in a nonchalant, casual manner not to alert his target. Right as they met, the man, "accidentally" bumped into his well-dressed counterpart, making him take a step back.

"Oh jeez, im so sorry," he mocked apologized, as he straighten out the front of his suit and walked off. The businessman looked back at him for a moment before brushing it off and continuing on.

The man walked into a nearby building and walked into the bathroom to freshen up. While in there, he straightens up his hair, makes it look more presentable, quickly washed his face, and buttoned up his shirt all the way up to his collar. He then checked the contents of the wallet he just picked pocketed and found that he didn't have any money on him, but fortunately for him, he had a corporate account credit card, an ATM card, and a driver license and looked almost identical to him.

Once exiting the restroom, he made his way over to a near by bank, and using the ATM card in conjunction with the license he was able to get, the bank teller to believed he was "Mr. Johnson" and made a 300 dollar cash withdrawal. It wasn't much, but it was a start, besides, if he had taken any more, it would have drawn attention, which was the last thing he wanted. With his 300 in cash, it was time to go shopping.

*****************************************************************

The man adjusted the red tie and looked into the mirror of his new suit, which consisted of navy blue dress pants and coat, with a pale blue button up dress shirt, all custom fitted from Italy.

"Excellent fit sir, and how will you be paying for this?" the tailor chimed in from behind him, holding the man's previous clothing. He turned to look at him for a moment, before digging into the coat pocket of jacket the tailor was holding and handing him the credit card to process. Once the process was completed, the man left in his new suit and entered a Jewelry store. He once again put the stolen credit card to good use, as he purchased 4 new gold watches from the jeweler. Now, where could he find the closest pawn shop?

*****************************************************************

The pawn shop owner inspected the watches carefully. Rolexes, solid gold, not high end watches but valuable nonetheless, why this man would pawn them is beyond him. The pawn shop owner looked up at the stranger and gave him the look-over, he didn't know why but he gave him the appearance that he has shot about 4 or 5 people before in his life. What's even odder is the fact that he wasn't even making eye contact with him, it looked like he was staring at the collection of guns he had behind him for sale. He looked him in the eye for a moment longer before speaking up.

"Hey mister?" He spoke up, breaking him from his stare at the guns. "Huh?" he mumbled.

"Ill give you 1500 for this." The pawn shop owner offered. The stranger looked a back over at the guns. "Lemme see that Magnum." He ordered. The owner complied and handed him the silver colored revolver. The stranger held it in his hand and checked the chambers, and the hammer, it was a little heavy, but it sure as hell had stopping power. It was perfect, he set it down on the counter in front of the owner.

"Hn…1000 and the gun." He suggested. The owner thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Um, ill need to see some ID" he said. The stranger complied and handed him the driver's license.

******************************************************************

The man sighed in contempt as he finished off the last bite of his huge t-bone steak. He hadn't eaten anything since this morning and he was starving. He counted out all the hundred dollar bills he had collected during the day, he now sat at 1300 dollars, not bad for one day's work, considering he was on the shelf for 5 months. Once he counted his money, and tucked back into his coat pocket and took a long drag of his cigarette and a sip of his coffee. He was getting ready to leave when the waiter who was serving him came back.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson. This card's been canceled." The waited said. The man looked up at him with fake surprise "Impossible." He replied

"Well I tried it twice and…" the waiter began, but was cut off but the man. "Try it again." He spoke in a low dangerous voice. The waiter quickly backed away and ran to go process the card again. Once he left, the man, took one final puff of his smoke, wiped his mouth off and left the restaurant without paying.

Now that he was armed, had some pocket change, and got his pack of cigarettes, it was time to pay his lovely "wife" a visit…


	2. If You Don't Kick Them, They Kick You

Payback

Ch. 2: If You Don't Kick Them, They Kick You

Night had fallen on the big city and it was beginning to drop in temperature. The brown-haired man, stood in the shadows behind a stoop of an apartment smoking a cigarette trying his hardest to keep warm. He had been standing there for a few hours for a reason: to confront his wife. Before he left for Downtown, he had acquired some information from a reliable source on the whereabouts where he could find her. And so there he was standing there for the past few hours wait for the love of his life to appear. After the stranger put out his 10th smoke, he heard the faint sound of someone coughing. Startled, he quickly looked up to see a woman stumbling down the street.

He audibly gasped. What that her? Was that his Wife? What was once shimmering waist-length blonde hair was now messy and darker in color. Her bronze-tanned skin was now deathly pale. Dazzling sky blue eyes were now completely bloodshot and glazed over like she hasn't slept in months. In her hands was a black pair of heels that matched the spaghetti strap dress that ran just past her thighs, and a cigarette that was the source of her cough. The stranger shook his head and gave a heavy sigh at the horrible condition her wife was in before slipping back into the shadows, waiting for her to open the door to the apartment complex. After dropping the key a few times and fumbling with the lock, she finally managed to open the door and lazily slip in. She lazily staggered down the long hallway until she reached the end door; she leaned against the wall as she once again struggled to open door to her apartment. Once she opened the door she closed it, not bothering to lock it, and leaned against the door.

The stranger moved from the shadows and slipped into the complex before the door closed. He watched a staggering figure slip into the last door down the hallway, and close it. The brown-haired man quickly walked down the hallway to the front of the door where the woman just walked through.

_'Old habits die hard, I guess. If you don't kick them, they'll sure as hell kick you. Fuck. Ain't marriage grand?'_

The man reached behind his back to pull out his magnum, and proceeded to violently kick in the door. As he done so, the woman leaning on the other side was thrown from her perch of leaning on the door to the floor, apparently making no effort to get up. The man walked through the door and quickly made a check of the moderately furnished apartment making sure there was no one else in there. After his inspection, the man walked back over to the kicked in door, and to see the floored woman now sitting up and leaning against wall. She weakly looked up to see her attacker, and her bloodshot_ eyes went wide as she quickly realized the man standing in front of her with a very pissed off look in his eyes._

"Heero?" She weakly asked. "You've not dead." She asked, but it was more of a statement than a question. He made to response to her questions. She gave a small little laugh. "What are you going to do? Kill me?" She mused.

Heero heavily sighed and tucked the gun back behind him. "God Mina, you look like shit." He asked in a calm voice, somewhere deep down he still cared for her. Heero bent down and scooped up Mina, and directed her to what appeared to be her bedroom. He walked in and set her down on her bed. Once he set her down, he took a seat right down next to her, she rolled over and showed her back to him and closed her eyes. Heero sat and looked around her room when suddenly something caught his eye. It was a small brown wooden box with an image of a crescent moon carved into the top resting on a nearby night stand: his anniversary gift to her. Heero cracked a small smirk as he reached over and opened up the top of the box listening to the Anniversary Song it was playing. Heero smirk soon turned to a scowl as he viewed the contents of what was in the music box. A small clear plastic bag with a white substance, a syringe, a bent spoon, lighter, and a rubber twist tie: the basic ingredients for a crack head. Heero sighed, she knew Mina had some private issues, but he never realized that it was this extreme.

As the song played, Mina's eyes opened wide with shock. Heero had found her stash. Mina quickly turned over and closed the music box abruptly putting an end to Anniversary Song, and snatched the box from the night stand hugging it intently. Heero sighed and reached over to take the box from her possession, but was met with resistance as she refused to give it up, and moved it further away from him.

"Please, not now." She pleaded, just above a whisper with tears running down her eyes. Heero frowned and reached over to put a hand on the box. "Yeah. You're cleaning up." Heero said with a tone of finality, as he grabbed the box and pulled it away from Mina. "No…" she whispered, but to no avail. Heero tucked the box under his arm, and rose from bed and out the door, leaving a depressed Mina to cry herself to sleep, or so he thought. Heero pulled the key from her door as he left; once he closed the door he used the key to lock her into her own room. With his wife locked up, Heero decided it now safe to get some sleep himself. Using her restroom he took a much needed, relaxing hot shower. When he dried off and got dressed, he plopped himself down on large sofa, checked his gun for bullets and slipped it under a cushion for easy access incase something came up, and allowed himself to fall into a dreamless sleep.

Long after Heero had left Mina alone in her room; she rose up from her bed and walked over to her closet. After digging around for a few moments, she had found what she was looking for: a red sandal with a large heel. She removed the heel off the sandal to reveal a hidden compartment and something lodged in there. In there was another small plastic bag of heroin, a syringe, rubber twist tie, and thimble. She gave a small smile as she rose up, prepared the items for use.

******************************************************************

Sunlight slowly crept into Mina's apartment the next morning as it hit Heero in the face, causing him to slowly open his eyes. He let out a big yawn and sat up on the sofa briefly rubbing his eyes, and then rose up. He walked over to the sink and got a glass of water, when he felt more awake; he decided to go check on Mina. Heero picked up the key he locked her in with, and opened the door. As he walked in, he wasn't surprised by what he saw, but he could help but gasp. There was Mina, his lovely wife, sprawled out on her bed, deathly pale, and with a syringe embedded in a vein on her arm. She wasn't moving or breathing and it wasn't hard to tell that she had been dead for quite some time. Heero walked over to the bed and found a sandal lying on the bed. He picked it up and inspected it only to find a hidden compartment, and it didn't take long for him to put 2 and 2 together to see where she had gotten her stash from.

Heero removed the syringe from her arm and pulled his wedding ring off of his left hand. Heero slipped the ring through the syringe and nailed it on the wall, with the ring dangling off it. Afterwards, Heero lay down next to Mina's corpse and just laid there staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. He loved Mina, he really did, even though she screwed him out of 70 grand and shot him 2 times in the back, he just couldn't bring himself to kill her for he knew that she was only mislead and in her mind didn't shoot him without just cause. As the telephone rang, Heero didn't even bother to get it as his mind wandered to the events of 5 months ago.

(Flashback: 5 months ago)

 Heero stirred from his sleep as the phone loudly rang off the hook. Mina, who was on the bed as well reading a book, answered the phone.

"Hello…oh yes…OK, hold on…" she spoke into the phone. Mina put the phone down and gently shook his husband's shoulder. "Heero, Mamoru still wants to talk to you."

Heero turned over and grumbled, he really didn't want to talk to him right now, and he needed his beauty sleep.

"Im sorry, babe," Mina apologized "Ill tell him to call back later." Mina said as she picked up the phone to relay the message. Heero leaned over and stopped her.

"Nah, ill talk to him." Heero said as he grabbed the phone. "It'll shut him up anyway." He reasoned as he put the phone to his ear

"Mamoru…Yep, same as always. And you?...Good, good…Um, why?...Are you there now?...Heh, well don't sweat it, Mamoru. We all look alike to them." Heero conducted into the phone.

An hour after there phone conversation, Heero met up with Mamoru in Chinatown, where he was already waiting, eating some Chinese take-out. Mamoru was Heero's partner in crime for a months now, they had done various jobs together, and they always split the money 50/50 no questions asked. He was a little taller than Heero, as well as a bit more filled out with a dark shade of blue eyes and jet black hair. Heero didn't know what it was about him, but there was something about him that did not sit well with him, like he was scheming behind his back. But he's always been legit with him, he's never over stepped his boundaries, and he's always got his back. But still, there was just something about him…

Heero and Mamoru were now surveying their next potential target from across a street. They appeared to be from some type of Chinese mafia. Mamoru proceeded to inform him on targets.

"Same crew, the Chang's…Twice a week, Tuesday and Friday…Always Between 11:00 and 12:00 always the same route…Chinese money laundering." Mamoru said in between bites.

"Hmm…" Heero mumbled. He observed 4 Chinese men, 3 of them were in black suits and were armed, and the 4th was dress differently. He had onyx colored eyes that matched his hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail. He wore a baggy blue wifebeater and baggy Chinese style pants. In his hand he had a black briefcase that was handcuffed to his right wrist. Judging my his muscle tone, and appearance studied martial arts and was a dangerous man.

"How much money's in the case?" Heero asked, never looking away from the man holding the briefcase.

"Anywhere between 350 large and half a mil." Mamoru said

"And how much do you need, Mamoru?" Heero asked.

"Ah, we split it 50-50, remember." Mamoru said.

"No, no. I mean how do you need to buy your way back?" Heero clarified. Mamoru nearly choked on his noodles at Heero's question. How did he know?

"Into the Syndicate. How much?" Heero asked again.

"You mean the outfit? Jesus man, you know everything." Mamoru said with a laugh, and continued to laugh for a few moments more, noticing that Heero wasn't laughing with him. "130 grand," Mamoru said after he finished laughing. As he stated this, the car with the 4 Chinese people in it pulled out and drove down the street before turning down into an alley that Mamoru and Heero just happened to be standing by. Heero studied the car and its passengers intently as it passed by them and into the long narrow, one-way alley.

"The beauty of the Chang's are they're very proud. They won't go to the cops, they keep everything in house, and they don't feel pain the way we do." Mamoru said.

"You notice anything about these guys, Mamoru?" Heero questioned.

"They looked nasty. Probably all kung-fu mother fuckers. Why? Did I miss something?" Mamoru answered

Heero pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "Yeah, they weren't wearing their seat belts." Heero said with a smirk as he took a puff. "We'll hit them on Friday."

*****************************************************************

An old beat-up Chevy Chevelle turned into a long narrow one-way alley doing easily 70 mph. In it were 2 men dressed in blue jumpsuits and black gloves. The passenger, Mamoru, quickly buckled his seat belt as he saw a black car slowly coming down the alley going the opposite direction. Heero quickly tilted his head to the left and to the right, stretching out his muscles and making a cracking sound. He then pulled out a black mouthpiece, put it in his mouth and bit down hard on it. Once he was set, hit the clutch, shifted the car into 5th gear, and increased his speed.

"Hubba, hubba, hubba…" Mamoru nervously said as he braced himself for a nasty impact. The Chinese were simply looking on, wondering what they were doing. But before they even had a chance to react and hit the breaks, the other car ferociously collided with the black Cadillac. Heero and Mamoru were a bit shaken but otherwise fine, while as all 4 Chinese men were rendered unconscious and bleeding from nasty head wounds. Mamoru got out the car as well as Heero with a pair of bolt cutters. Heero walked around to the back of the car and smashed the window in where the man with the briefcase sat. Afterwards, he leaned in and cut off the chain linked to the briefcase, freeing it up for him to take. Meanwhile Mamoru walked over to the other side of the car and proceed to beat the shit out of one of the cataleptic men.

A few seconds after they hit the car, Mina pulled up behind them in a new car ready to make their getaway. Heero walked over to the car while Mina scooted over for him to take the wheel. Once he got in, he saw that Mamoru was still beating up on the out cold man. Heero honked the horn twice.

"Mamoru! Come on!" He called. Mamoru stopped what he was doing and ran over to the car and got into the backseat.

"The problem with kicking the Chang's asses is an hour later you wanna do it again." Mamoru said, as Heero threw the new car into reverse and out of the alley.

*****************************************************************

Heero, Mina, and Mamoru parked into a garage were another car awaited them. Heero and Mamoru shed their blue jumpsuits, as Mina opened the briefcase and counted the money. After a few minutes, Mina finished counting the money and stated the total.

"140 grand," She stated.

"Hey! Alright 140 a piece," Mamoru Exclaimed

"Total." Mina corrected

"Total? Well then that's what? 70 grand? 70 grand a piece! Damn, that's not enough!" Mamoru exclaimed.

"It is for me." Heero said, as he grabbed a bag. "Im taking the next few months off." Heero finished, handing the bag to Mina to divide the money.

"Yeah well im up short, 60 short. Fucking Chang's! I knew we should have hit them on Tuesday." Mamoru complained.

"Hey, we got away clean. And you got something to show for it. Always be grateful for what you get. Rule number one, Mamoru." Heero countered.

"Yeah, yeah. Rule number one…" Mamoru trailed off. Heero looked at Mamoru who had a nervous look in his eyes, almost like he was waiting for something. Mamoru was getting more and more nervous under Heero aggressive stare, and even started to sweat a little.

"What?" Mamoru choked out. "Everything's cool. It's just not enough, alright?" Mamoru said.

"It never is, Mamoru." Heero replied, never breaking contact with his eyes. "Hey baby, just put the money in the car, will you?" Heero requested. Mina, not liking the tension forming between them quickly complied.

"Man, I can't fucking believe it. We should—you know, you know what Heero." Mamoru began to smirk. "This is funny. This'll kill you. It's always 140." Mamoru revealed.

Heero rose an eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that. Suddenly he heard a gun cock, as he turned around he saw a tearful Mina pointing a gun at him.

"Someone oughta give me a PhD." Mamoru said with a big grin on his face. Heero growled at Mamoru and reached behind him to draw his gun, but as he did so Mina fired 2 shots into his back. Heero immediately dropped his gun and collapsed to the floor in obvious pain, while Mamoru jumped behind a pillar for cover.

"Jesus, Mina, wait till im outta the fucking way!" Mamoru shouted. He looked around from his hiding spot to find Heero on the ground gagging and gasping for air, while Mina looked on in shock from what she just did. Heero tried to reach for his gun, but as he did so, Mamoru came and kicked it away from him.

"Ha! You were great, baby!" Mamoru shouted running over to the car Mina was standing by. Mamoru put a hand on her shoulder and asked her to give him the gun, but she refused. Mamoru wasn't going to argue with her. Mamoru opened the passenger side of the car door and escorted Mina into the car, who was still in tears and looking back at Heero's prone body.

Mamoru hopped over Heero body and over to the briefcase where the other half of the money was and grabbed it. As he walked back he lit up a smoke in celebration.

"Oh, I've bet you got a lot of questions rattling around in your head." Mamoru taunted, and he crouched over Heero. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of him smiling, yes, smiling with a woman wrapped around his neck. With her hair done up in a strange fashion, and bright blue eyes. Heero's eyes went wide with shock. Where didn't he get that!?

"Mina, did not understand. So I drew up a pretty reasonable conclusion for her." Mamoru revealed. "I don't know buddy. I guess wives get funny when it comes to girlfriends, huh?" Mamoru teased, as he dropped the picture on him. Heero tried with all his might to say something, but he kept gasping for air, as he coughed up more blood.

"What? I didn't get that." He kept on taunting. Mamoru took one last puff of his cigarette and put it out in the pool of blood that was forming around Heero's body. "OK, you got it." Mamoru said as he stood up and kicked him in the face before walking off and getting in the car and driving off. Heero looked on as the car sped out of the garage, and that was the last image he saw before blacked out.

(End Flashback)

Heero was startled from his thoughts as he heard loud knocking coming her front door. Heero rose up from his spot next to Mina's corpse and walked to the front door. He opened the door to see a young man, barely in his 20's with baggy grey pants, white t-shirt, greasy hair cut, and a nose ring. The young kid looked Heero up and down and then sniffed.

"Is uh, Mina here?" he asked.

"Oh, you mean my wife?" Heero corrected, he really didn't like this kid.

"Yeah, whatever" The kid replied nonchalantly.

Heero frowned, as he pulled the kid by the hair and dragged him into the apartment and slamming him against the wall, before turning the close the door. The kid turned around and pulled a gun out. Heero reacted quickly my grabbing the gun and pulling it away from his grasp, and punching him in the stomach. Heero then pick the kid up and turned him back around to frisk him. He managed to pull out a yellow envelope with money in it and a small leather pouch.

"How much is in here, huh?" he asked him.

"2000 dollars." The kid choked out.

"Oh, and what's this?" Heero said, holding up the leather pouch.

"Helium. The fuck you think it is? It Heroin!" The kid spat at him. Heero growled and punched him 4 times in the ribs. The kid held his sides in pain and fell to the floor. Heero crouched down to he level to talk to him.

"Mamoru Chiba. Where is he?" Heero asked.

"You wanna know where he is? He right here. Look." The kid answered as he grabbed his crotch. "Fuck you!"

Heero smirked. "Wrong answer." He said, and grabbed kid's nose ring and forcefully yanked it off. The kid screamed in pain as he tried to stop his bleeding nose.

"Mamoru Chiba." He told him again. The kid started stammering, looking for an answer. "I never heard of him, man!"

"Then where did you get the envelope, and the this shit right here?" He asked, hold up the leather pouch.

"Ah, come on man, there gonna fuckin' kill me, man!" The kid pleaded, but to no avail. Heero cocked the gun he took from him and put it to his head.

"What do you think im gonna do? Worry about me?" Heero told him in a deadly tone of voice.

The kid was shitting bricks now. "OK, OK, OK…Maxwell, man. Duo fucking Maxwell, OK."

"Where is he?"

"S-South End Taxi. F-F-Farragut Road, man." The kid stammered out. Heero uncocked the gun and removed it from his head.

"Thank you." Heero said with a smirk.


	3. Meeting Duo Maxwell

OK, folks im back…again. Please forgive me for the long awaited update, but a got a call from a friend of mine. It seems that he lost one of his teammates for a paintball tourney in Vegas, because he broke his leg. So I get a phone call asking me how fast I can get down to Vegas with Charlene (my gun), and my gear. Well, long story short drove my ass down to Vegas kicked some ass, and got a 4th place finish and a 5 grand pot for my troubles. Not bad for a paintballer, ne? Well, enough bragging, and lemme go on with this story.

Payback

Ch. 3: Meeting Duo Maxwell

Heero took another puff of his cigarette as he looked of at the medium-sized building that was South End Taxi. It appeared to be dilapidated but then again looks can be deceiving. He looked over to the right of the building, and saw a large parking lot where a bunch of yellow taxi cabs lay parked. Heero put out his cigarette and calmly walked up the small amount of steps leading up to a large double door.

As Heero walked in, he noticed a large lobby type room with a large desk sitting towards the back of the room. Behind the desk sat a fairly large, well-built black man reading a newspaper and chewing on a toothpick. Heero stood there and looked at the man, as he just continued to read his paper, not even looking up to acknowledge Heero. Heero sighed as he stood from the door and walked up the desk where the man was reading his paper.

"Im looking for Duo Maxwell." Heero spoke up.

"He aint here, something I can help you with?" The dark skinned man asked, as he put his paper down and removed the toothpick form his mouth, looking up at his newest patron.

"No, you can't. Where is he?" Heero asked again.

The black man simply shrugged his shoulders "I don't know he's not here." He said again.

Heero rolled his eyes in frustration "Take a guess." The man raised his eyebrow "What?"

"Take a guess," Heero said again "about where he is."

The dark skinned man merely scoffed at him and gave a small chuckle as he put his toothpick back in his mouth and went back to reading his paper.

Heero sighed in frustration, as he leaned over the desk and lowered the man's paper to look at him again. "Is he at home?" Heero asked. The black man glared at Heero as he once again set his toothpick and paper down and rose up from his seat to stare down at the much shorter Heero.

"Why don't you go fuck yourself!" He spat at Heero. Heero looked down and sighed. Why must people act like such assholes sometimes?

************************************************************************

"OK, here we go!" Exclaimed loanshark/imformant/drug dealer/taxi cab owner, Duo Maxwell, as he shook a pair of red dice and tossed them on a billiard table. Duo stood and an average height with cobalt blue eyes and dark brown hair that was twisted up in a long braid and ran down to the crack of his ass. Duo was a shady individual know to have his hands involved in anything shady in this city and is a valuable informant for the right price.

"Heh, looks like you crapped out again." Spoke a calm, cool voice as he reached over the pool table and collected his money. He was a rather person with a strong muscular build under his brown suit and yellow tie. He had piercing dark green eyes though only one of them were visible due to the fact that his long brown bangs covered one of them. He was quiet and more collected compared to the person standing next to him.

The person standing to the green-eyed man immediate right was almost as tall he and dressed in a blue suit with a yellow tie. At first it would appear that he was male, but upon closer inspection, the slight bulge in his chest, and the feminine voice, she was a woman.

She had sandy blonde hair and dark blue eyes and was bit more talkative as well as aggressive then the brown haired man. 

"Ah, damnit! OK one more time!" Duo exclaimed as he picked up the dice and prepared to shake them up, but was broken from his concentration as the door to his office flew open and in walked his dark-skinned dispatcher holding the side of his head in annoyance as he was trying to stop the bleeding from the wound he had just received.

"There's somebody here to see you." He grunted out, as he walked out of the doorway to sit down, revealing the person standing directly behind him.

"Im looking for Duo Maxwell." Heero spoke up to the stunned and quiet group of gamblers. Duo was a bit taken back at this guy. He was a well dressed, menacing man, with a very cold and murderous look in his eyes slapping his men around, oh yeah, either he was very dumb or he had a really big set balls.

"Who the hell are you?" Duo finally managed to speak up.

Heero looked over in the braided man's direction. "Im Heero."

"Well, Heero…" began the woman in the blue suit, point at the bleeding dark-skinned man sitting on a nearby couch, "That looks like assault to me." She finished, pulling her coat back slightly to reveal a badge and a gun hanging off her waist. She was a cop.

"Yeah, and Heero looks like the kind that likes to resist arrest." Spoke the taller green-eyed man next to her, who also slightly pulled his brown coat back, showing a badge and a gun. Another cop.

"Trowa, Hakura! Easy now, take it easy." Duo said. Heero remained impassive, and he proceeded to reach into his coat pocket. But right as he did so, the 2 cops saw this as a threat and drew to their guns. Heero abruptly stopped, and Duo stepped in front of the 2 cops.

"No! Not in here, guys calm down. He just wants to talk!" Duo reassured, as Heero slowly pulled his hand out of his coat pocket with a leather pouch in his hand. Trowa and Hakura relaxed and holstered their guns, and Duo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you Maxwell?" Heero asked again, directing his question at the braided man.

Duo gave Heero a questioning glance. "Maybe. What do you want?" He asked.

"Your boy didn't make his delivery." Heero said, as he tossed the leather pouch on the pool table where they were playing. Duo's eyes went with surprise as he tried to grab the pouch off the table. But Trowa beat him to the punch as he quickly grabbed the pouch and held it in his hand.

"Ah, what do we have here?" Trowa asked, as he opened up the pouch to see a small amount white power inside.

"Hey don't worry about it." Duo said in a nervous tone of voice. "Why don't we talk outside." Duo said towards Heero, trying to change the subject.

"Maxwell, are you a dealer? And you never told us?" Trowa questioned with a smirk.

"Ah, just forget about it, alright." Duo replied with a very nervous grin. The last thing he wanted was to owe these 2 another favor.

Hakura stuck her pinky finger into the substance, tasted the small amount, and smirked "Is this heroin?" Hakura questioned in a mock tone. Trowa proceeded to taste the substance as well before he smiled and came to the same conclusion "This is heroin."

"Guys, just—don't worry about, alright." Duo said quickly before grabbing Heero, who was watching all this with amusement, and leading him outside.

Trowa watched Duo as he quickly grabbed his guest and exited out of the room. He then closed the pouch that had the heroin in it and tucked it away in his pocket.

"It seems that Mr. Maxwell has been holding out on us." Trowa said calmly. Hakura nodded in agreement. "Ill go check it out." She said before walking out the room as well.

***************************************************************************

"Mamoru Chiba." Heero brought up out of nowhere, once they had reached outside. Duo raised an eyebrow at the mention of the name.

"What about him?" He asked.

"Your gonna tell me where he is." Heero said

"No. No, even if I knew where he was the answer would still be no." Duo replied "Now, where did you meet up with my delivery boy?" Duo inquired.

"At his drop." He answered simply

"Well, is he dead?"

"No, but she is. She OD'ed on that crap you been sending her." Heero stated. "Yeah, so what do you care?" Duo replied with a nonchalant shrug. Heero glared daggers at Duo's comment and he simply took a step back in fear. "Im her husband." He stated.

Duo went pale at the revelation and took swallowed the lump his throat. "Your not gonna fucking kill me, are you?"

Heero looked at him, contemplating the idea, but he still needed to find out Mamoru's whereabouts plus he really didn't want to kill him in front of some kids that were playing not to far away from where they were talking.

"Hn, not in front of these kids. Now, where is he?" Heero asked again changing subjects, much to Duo's relief.

Duo breathed a sigh of relief at Heero apparent mercy, when he caught out of the corner of his eye, Hakura watching them through a window wanting to know what was going on.

"I don't know. And that's the truth. You see this stuff get delivered to me, too. It was last night, and I won't see anyone again for a month at least." Duo confessed.

Heero nodded "OK, why all the trouble?" Heero asked.

"Well, he's afraid of the girl. You know, I mean, of—of…Mrs. Heero. I mean, that's how it looks to me." Duo stammered out, quickly looking up at the window Hakura was at only to find that she had already left. 

"Look, I don't know anything about this, OK? I know Mamoru from the old days. 3 months ago he shows up, asks me to do him a favor, I make an extra grand a month, so I figure, what hell, right? Now you come around threatening to kill me? Believe me, that much of a buddy of Mamoru's I am not. He is in the city, that's all I know." Duo suddenly confessed "I got a game going on in here, I gotta get back!" Duo said as he tried to walk back inside, but Heero cut his path off.

"How do you know that?" Heero asked

"He said so." Duo answered

"When?" Heero asked again

"When he—then. When he came around, he said that he had squared himself with the syndicate, said that he was back in the big time, back for good. He was very excited." Duo stuttered out. Heero was now becoming annoyed at Duo constant rambling.

"Well you tell him that Heero is back, too. And Heero wants his money back. Or ill come back here and pay you a visit when these kids are not around." Heero said in a low venomous tone, referring to himself in the third person. Duo reeled back slightly at this sudden change, and paled even more. Heero gave him one last glare before walking off, leaving a stunned and relieved Duo there to collect his thoughts.


End file.
